The Best Part of the Limited Time 100,000 Point Hilton Offer

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Recently theHilton Honors™ Surpass® Card from American Expresstemporarilybumped its sign-up bonus al the way up to100,000 Hilton Honors points after you spend $3,000 on the card in the first 3 months. I totally understand that 100,000 points is an eye-catching and impressive number, however I don’t actually think it is the best part of this increased bonus. I think the best part comes on your first cardmember anniversary when you get a weekend award night that you can use for a standard room at almost any Hilton property around the world.

This card does have a $75 annual fee, but when you remember that some Hilton properties cost you 95,000 points per night for a standard room, or potentially hundreds and hundreds of dollars if you were paying with cash, the annual fee doesn’t sound so terrible. If it still sounds terrible, I’ll point you to the no-annual-fee Hilton Honors™ Card from American Expressthat also has an increased bonus, though not one that includes a weekend award night.

This is only the second time I can remember seeing the sign-up bonus for the Hilton Honors™ Surpass® Cardgoing thishigh and with the weekend anniversary night attached to it on the first anniversary.

To give you an idea how valuable the weekend award night is, we had recently planned to visit the iconic Hotel Del Coronado in San Diego before Hurricane Harvey came and rained on that parade. This hotel just joined the Hilton family in August of 2017, and on peak nights it indeed costs 95,000 Hilton points per night. For our intended travel dates, cash rates were close to $600 per night, so we obviously opted to spend 95,000 Hilton points instead. If we had a weekend Hilton award to use, that would have saved us those 95,000 points, which would have been a great deal. Perhaps whenever we eventually do get to reschedule this trip we will indeed have a Hilton weekend award night to use!

If you like to ski, know that the Waldorf Astoria Park City has a dedicated Frostwood Gondola that takes you to the Canyons Village base. If you want some first-hand info on skiing at Canyons with a family, this post is for you. The Waldorf Astoria Park City normally costs 80,000 Hilton points per night for a standard room, so I would much rather use a weekend anniversary night than pay that going points rate or the $800-ish per night cash rate on winter weekends.

I seriously want to visit the Grand Wailea

I really want to visit the Grand Wailea on Maui at some point on a Hawaiian family vacation, and doing it with a Hilton weekend award night instead of 95,000 Hilton points (or paying $500-ish) also sounds fabulous! Though note that standard award availability at that property can be tough at times.

If those places aren’t your cup of tea, there are also top tier Hilton properties in French Polynesia, Asia, Australia, and beyond. Even if you redeemed the award night somewhere much less exotic than French Polynesia, we all know that major cities across this country and around the world often have rates well over $75 per night.

As an example, families may want to remember that at the Conrad New York in Manhattan, one of the standard room options when using an award night is actually a two-room suite with two double beds!

Conrad New York Living Room

The terms for the weekend award night indicate that you have 12 months to redeem from the time it is issued. There is a relatively small list of about 40 Hilton properties excluded from the weekend night certificates, and is made up primarily of the all-inclusive properties and the Hilton Grand Vacation properties. It is a bummer you have to wait a whole year to get the anniversary weekend award night, but it is still a very, very valuable part of the limited time offering and is not part of the standard offer for the card.

Since so many of the top Hiltons that I personally want to visit are in the 80,000 – 95,000 points per night zone, I value the weekend anniversary night extremely highly, and think that it is the most valuable component of this increased offer. If you want to get in on the 100,000 sign-up bonus points and the weekend award night awarded on the first anniversary, you have until October 4, 2017, to pull the trigger.

How would you use your Hilton weekend anniversary award night?

Editorial Note: The opinions expressed here are mine and not provided, reviewed, by any bank, card issuer, or other company unless otherwise stated.

Is bashing affiliate links really still a thing? This blog is my full-time job. It is how I provide for my family, and if it can’t pay the bills, frankly, as much as I love it, I most likely wouldn’t/won’t be able to keep it up as my efforts would have to be directed towards something that can support my family. I’m sorry if you have a negative feeling towards affiliate links, but without them sites like this would have a hard time existing. When a card can provide lots of travel at a greatly reduced price for the one who gets it, and a little bit of help to keep the site going, I call it a win/win. Sorry again if you don’t feel the same.

Summer, as a fellow mom of young children, I really appreciate all the info you provide on family travel. Yours is the only blog I’ve found that focuses on using points/miles to travel with children. Keep up the great work & don’t worry about the negative comments.

Do you have (or know of) a post that has tips on how to fit 3 or 4 kids in a standard hotel room? I have many hotel miles from work, but can’t see how any of these hotels would fit the kids and thus we end up using airbnbs. Would love your thoughts…

I’ve gotten good use out of my Citi HHonors Reserve Card annual free nights and Gold status, and am sad that card is going away. But I’m probably going to pass on this offer, primarily because the merchants I would logically use to meet the minimum spend don’t accept Amex.

And, Summer, thanks for hanging in there. Hope you and your home are back to normal soon.

Summer, I thought you had to spend $10k to get the free weekend night. Is that not the case? I recently downgraded from Surpass to the regular Hilton amex because I didn’t want to pay $75 just to have gold status. I wouldn’t have done it if I could get a free weekend night also.

It is too bad that a few readers will bash affiliate links. Summer, ignore the comments of these ignorant people. I would say most of your readers are nice and appreciate what you do. I have been reading your blog for years and appreciate all the information you pass on to us. I have used blog affiliate links to sign up for credit cards. Keep up the good work!

I have used your links a few times as well. If I sign up for a card I might as well go through a site that has been providing me good content and has has saved me $$. I look at about 4 blogs all in all. Your site is the first I look at when I do.

Just want to chime in here. I’m a little late in reading this post since I was just finishing up a 2-week trip to Scotland when you posted it. One of the reasons I wanted to go to Scotland in late August was because of your trip report and your experience at the Edinburgh Tattoo. Loved it!! And also used points at the Radisson Blu for the couple of nights on the Royal Mile. Great location! And so easy to just walk down the street after the Tattoo. Might never have known about the Tattoo without your blog. Thanks!!!

About Summer

Well, I am a married mom in my mid-30's. I have two rock star, adorable, beautiful, fantastic, mischievous, humorous, smarter-than-my-own-good girls. One is currently 7 going on 17 and the other is closing in on her 2nd birthday. I am obsessed with my adorable and insane kiddos, and also obsessed with earning and using airline and hotel points and miles to show them the world on a budget we can afford. Learn more about Summer

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Editorial Note: Opinions expressed here are author's alone and have not been reviewed or endorsed by any company or third party unless clearly stated otherwise.